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“Tweet wave” picking up steam this summer
By Justin Goldsborough | July 22nd, 2008
Just in case you were wondering…When it comes to trends, companies fall in one of four areas — got it before anyone else got it (aka, cutting edge), got it after a few other companies tested it out first (aka, progressive), finally got it (aka, conservative but interested) or never gonna get it (aka, irrelevant).
When it comes to social networking with customers and employees, Sprint usually falls somewhere in between areas two and three. It’s cool that we offer a platform for employees to blog in SprintSpace. I might even call us progressive, except we’re a technology company and blogging has been around for a while. Heck, even “Big Blue” has allowed employees to blog since 2003. So we’re probably closer to “finally got it” when it comes to employee blogging. But there is another social media trend that we’ve jumped out in front of (as far as corporations go) and it should have a positive impact on how our customers perceive us.
I was pleasantly surprised last week when I heard that Sprint has decided to tweet. If you’re a Twitter aficionado, this is all making sense right now. If not, you may be thinking of a little yellow bird that Sylvester, the Looney Tunes cat with the lisp, used to chase. For those who don’t know, Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to microblog answers to the question “What are you doing right now?” When you post a microblog on Twitter, it’s called a tweet. On the surface, the site may seem little more than an extension of your typical Facebook or LinkedIn status update. But companies like Southwest Airlines, Comcast, and now Sprint, can tell you that Twitter offers a lot more.
So how are these companies using Twitter? Well, let’s start with Sprint. Last week, Sprint launched a news feed via Twitter that updates users who choose to follow Sprint (aptly named followers) on the company’s news announcements, new YouTube videos, Buzz About Wireless online events and more. For instance, Sprint’s PR team recently tweeted about new Samsung Instinct video walkthroughs that have been uploaded to YouTube.
It’s basically a way to keep customers and employees up to speed on what the company is up to. Journalists are also starting to follow tweets to come up with story ideas. Can you say micro press release? Plus tweeting makes even more sense for Sprint since it’s so easy to do from your wireless device (http://twitter.com on your mobile Web browser).
If you’ve studied corporate involvement in social media at all, you know that Southwest Airlines is most often in that “cutting edge” group mentioned above. And their involvement with Twitter is no different. Southwest is tweeting about its new partnership with WestJet and linking customers in to the company’s external-facing blog or reminding customers to download DING. But these two examples only scratch the surface of Southwest’s microblog strategy.
Besides using Twitter as a PR mechanism, Southwest is using it in the truest sense of the term social networking — to network with its customers on a personal basis. Check out this tweet from favregirl on July 9. Here the user mentions in a microblog that she likes SWA. A few hours later, SouthwestAir tweets to favregirl thanking her for choosing Southwest and asking her thoughts on Brett Favre coming out of retirement.
Whether you think this interaction is ingenious on Southwest’s part or a little bit creepy (research says it’s closer to the former), what sticks out here is Southwest’s willingness to be creative and try a different way of networking with customers. So what about Comcast? What is that company tweeting about? Well, we know that Comcast’s customers have been chirping for a long time about the company’s poor customer service. But search Comcast on Twitter and you’ll see that the cable giant is listening to its customers complaints and offering help online via its ComcastCares feed. Here’s what I mean.
Lee Flowers from Houston began Twittering earlier this evening about the fact that his Internet is down and couldn’t make it out to his house to fix the problem. Twittering, complaining…basically, Lee’s not happy with his service, especially since he has to wait until tomorrow. Or does he. In this case, Comcast Customer Service Manager Frank Eliason tweets back about an hour later asking, “Do you want me to look at it?” Talk about first tweet resolution (actually, it was Lee’s third tweet about Comcast, but all of them came tonight). The ComcastCares feed doesn’t show if the problem has been fixed yet, but no doubt Lee’s impression of Comcast is on it’s way to repair thanks to the company’s presence on Twitter.
In a recent article about Twitters rapid rise to prominence, Frank told USA Today why he spends much of his days discussing his company with Comcast customers on Twitter: Comcast isn’t on Twitter to turn around the firm’s customer service perception issues but simply to “build better relationships with our customers,” he says.
Not sure I completely buy what Frank is selling since building better relationships ultimately improves a company’s customer service. But however you want to describe it, Comcast is taking advantage of this free access to its customer base. As are other companies like Blip.tv and Zappos.com. reps from both told USA Today that they drop hints about initiatives their companies are pursuing on Twitter and get instant market research without spending the big bucks.
So while Sprint’s initial efforts on Twitter no doubt classify as “progressive”, hopefully someday soon we’ll join companies like Southwest and Comcast on the “cutting edge.” The SprintNews feed is a great first step, but eventually addressing customers one-on-one via our tweets and openly requesting their feedback could be a step toward a significant reputation boost.
Even if we aren’t able to solve a lot of dropped call or e-mail synching issues via those future tweets, at least we’ll be taking a shot at listening to our customers in a way many of them choose to communicate on a daily basis. That effort in itself may be what proves most positive for our perception. But we need to act fast, because what’s “cutting edge” today in the world of social networking will be progressive, or even conservative, tomorrow.
“The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies or opinions of Sprint.”
July 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am
Justin,
Some great examples of Twitter emerging as the new customer service arena. I mentioned you in a blog post of my own.
Keep up the good work… Tim
August 6th, 2008 at 6:31 am
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August 22nd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
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